Fox News’ Martha MacCallum directly told White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby during an interview Wednesday that the administration’s border policies are failing.
Kirby said the administration is determined to “change the way” border officials process migrants entering the U.S. and “crackdown” on illegal immigration. He cited the administration’s national security supplemental request which would allocate additional funding to add more border patrol agents.
MacCallum said President Joe Biden does appear eager to take action at the border as he has the power to issue executive actions.
“So it doesn’t seem like he has a lot of fire in his belly, John, to stop people from entering. It seems that he’s okay with the opposite,” MacCallum told Kirby.
“No, Martha, I kind of would disagree with you,” Kirby replied. “I don’t think he’s lacking any sense of urgency about the need for border security at all, and he has taken some executive actions such as putting U.S. troops down there to help take off some of the border patrol, some of their tasks and some of their responsibilities so that they can focus on immigration work itself.”
MacCallum and Kirby addressed the Biden administration’s request to cut razor wire installed at the border by Texas officials to help mitigate the influx of migrants entering the country. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the administration in a Monday decision, with Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts ruling in favor with the liberal justices.
Kirby said the White House opposed the razor wire since it allegedly prevented border patrol agents from accessing certain areas to fulfill their duties.
“You say there’s no lack of urgency. He’s been president for three years. This is not just the same old immigration issue we’ve had going on for a decade as he said the other day. These are record numbers all the time,” MacCallum added. “And people in Iowa and New Hampshire are the ones who are expressing concerns about it. This isn’t Arizona and Texas, this is Iowa and New Hampshire. So I don’t think that people sense that there isn’t urgency to address this. In fact, I talked to lots of voters over the past few weeks who said they think the opposite has happened and they’re trying to figure out why the president wouldn’t do what he can to stop it.”
Kirby said there is a limit on the executive actions the president can pass to address the border, and thus needs support from Congress. He then argued the White House’s discussions with the Senate have been “progressing.”
“I mean, they’re not,” MacCallum responded. “And you say he’s been concerned about it for three years, but that’s failing, obviously. Because when you have record numbers of people coming in, that means the policy’s failing. So why not change gears and try to do something that works?”
“I think it’s important to put this in context, too, Martha. You’re seeing, as you rightfully said, record numbers of people and it’s not just the United States that are facing that pressure. Lots of countries in the hemisphere including Mexico is facing a lot of pressure at their own southern border. I mean, there are more people on the move in this hemisphere right now than there has been since World War II.”
“John, do we have a border?” MacCallum asked. “Do we have a southern border?”
“Do we have a what?” Kirby asked.
“Do we have a southern border?” she repeated, to which he answered, “Yes.”
Kirby assured that the administration is “working very hard” to combat the record numbers of migrant apprehensions. A record high of nearly 300,000 migrants crossed the border in December. Almost 2.5 million apprehensions in the 2023 fiscal year, and an additional 483,000 in the 2024 fiscal year thus far, according to Customs and Border Protection.
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